September 15, 2010
'rin P ortiani* íObseruer
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FredMeyer
What's on your list today?»
page 2
V
No Time to Relax
i
S ustainability
pages 4-5
Youth advocate
sends message
on gangs
******
_' ■' •
t
J ake T homas
T he P ortland O bserver
D avid Mi 1 ler never turns dow n
an o p p o rtu n ity to help out youth
in need.
T h e fo rm e r T riM e t R id ers
A dv o cate w ho helped cu sto m
ers w ith th eir tran sit needs w hile
d efu sin g tense situ atio n s, often
w ith u nruly y outh, is n o w w o rk
ing as a y outh gangs p rogram
m an ag er for Y outh O utreach.
S u m m e r is ty p ic a lly w h en
th e c ity se es a sp ik e in g a n g
v io le n c e , as y o u th a re o u t o f
sc h o o l an d o u t late. B ut M ille r
re c e n tly to ld th e P o rtla n d O b
s e rv e r th a t j u s t b e c a u se th e
su m m e r is c o m in g to a c lo se
th is is no tim e to re la x , a n d the
c ity sh o u ld c o n s id e r a d ju s tin g
how it is resp o n d in g to the p ro b
lem .
by
el
O bservador
H ealth
C lassifieds
O
pinion
pages 16-17
pages 4-5
page 8
pages 14-15
"Ju st because fall is co m in g
d o e s n ’t m ean the v io len ce is
going to stop,” said M iller, w ho is
alarm ed by the rash o f gang-
related sh o o tin g s th at occurred
last m onth, eig h t o f w h ich o c
cu rred in the co u rse o f 24 hours.
“ It’s all hands on deck right now ,”
he added
H e said th at as school starts,
bad blood m ig h t be stirred back
up as rivals en co u n ter each o th er
MW «
David Miller
again in the classro o m and at
sporting events.
D uring the w in ter o f 2008 and
2009, the city saw an uptick in
g a n g v io le n c e , w h ic h M ille r
po in ts to as a reaso n for people
to not let th eir g u ard s dow n.
He also called for a differen t
ap proach to co m b atin g the p ro b
lem.
T he M a y o r’s O ffice o f Y outh
V iolence Prevention runs a grant
that d istrib u tes m o n ey each year
to six p riv ate n o n -p ro fits that
aim to red u ce g an g v io len ce
through o u treach and p rev e n
tion efforts.
D u r in g th e la s t c y c le , it
a w a rd e d $ 6 0 ,0 0 0 to six p riv a te
n o n -p ro fits. T he fu n d in g h elp ed
p a y fo r tw o p a rt-tim e c o o rd i
n a to r p o s i t io n s , a n d s e v e n
s t r e e t le v e l g a n g o u tr e a c h
w o rk e rs, w h o m ak e th e ir p r e s
e n c e k n o w n in “ h o t sp o ts 5»
k n o w n fo r g a n g a c tiv ity an d
b u ild re la tio n sh ip s w ith a t-risk
y o u th .
T he program has u n d erg o n e
tw o g ran t cycles since it w as
im p lem en ted in 2 0 0 7 , d u rin g
w hich it funded the sam e o rg an i
zatio n s including B rothers and
S isters K eepers Inc., C atholic
C harities- El P rogram a H ispano,
E m m anuel C om m unity Serv ices,
Im m ig ran t and R efugee C o m
m unity O rganization, and N ative
A m e ric an Y o u th an d F am ily
S erv ices.
“ W e ’re g ettin g the sam e re
su lts,” said M iller o f the o u t
co m es from fu n d in g th ese o rg a
nizations. “ It’s tim e to m ake a
c h a n g e .”
M iller said that co m b atin g the
p ro b lem o f g an g v io len ce re
quires a m ore h o listic ap p ro ach
that involves fam ilies in addition
to youth. He also noted that m any
fam ilies are stretch ed thin fin an
cially, and if th ey co u ld get help
p ay in g th eir rent o r utilities it
m ight provide som e m uch needed
hom e stability.
A cco rd in g to a rep o rt from
the Y outh V iolence P rev entio n
g ro u p ’s Street L evel G an g O u t
reach Program , o u treach w o rk
ers w ere successful in reach in g
m any o f the fam ilies o f at-risk
youth. A dditionally gang-related
h o m icid es have d ro p p ed from
27 in 2 007 to 15 in 2008, an d 14
continued ' W ' on page 18
Neighbors Urge Police Staffing
N eig h b o rs in the K ing N eig h
borh o o d o f n o rth east P ortland
are d raw in g a tten tio n to a lack o f
police staffin g after an episode
o f street violence.
It took several 9-1-1 calls for
police to resp o n d to a report o f
several y o u n g ad u lts fighting in
the street near N o rth east 10th
and A lb erta. T he d istu rb an ce
took place a ro u n d 9 p.m . on
Sept. 6 and escalated into gun-
shots fired in the air.
lation into gunfire.
T he K ing N eig h b o rh o o d A s
T he neig h b o rs also w ere as
sociation b rought up the incident to n ish ed to learn that the K ing
w ith th e ir n eig h b o rh o o d police N eig h b o rh o o d has no o fficer on
o fficer rep resen tativ e w h o a t patrol from 1 a.m . to 7 a.m .
ten d ed th eir m o n th ly m eetin g on
T he asso ciatio n has send a
T h u rsd ay . W hile the n eig h b o rs letter to M ayor A d am s as police
said th ey ap p reciate the w ork co m m issio n er ask in g him to a d
th at police o fficers d o on a daily e q u ately s ta ff the N o rth P re
basis, th ey w ere c o n cern ed that cin ct to give o fficers the m eans
a m ore tim ely resp o n se m ight to respond to urgent situ atio n s
have p rev en ted the fig h t’s e sca faster and at all hours.